Just over a month removed from the most significant victory of his career, Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping declared via his Twitter account:
Very happy to announce that I landed a role in the new xXx movie with Vin Diesel…
Despite proclaiming his legitimacy for an elusive Middleweight title shot to MMAJunkie, the announcement regarding his casting looked to have removed him from contention. Talk of awarding Bisping a title shot centred around the fact he was closing in on a decade in the UFC with a cumulative 18-7 record within the company. Defeating the former long-time 185lbs champion Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva by unanimous decision at UFC London in February enhanced his plea, but didn’t solidify it. It was a difficult argument to win. Its unlikely many people would support a Gleison Tibau title shot despite being in the UFC for roughly the same duration. The PED issues might also get in the way of that one, which is a point I’ll return to later.
With champion Luke Rockhold scheduled to face former title holder Chris Weidman at UFC 199, Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza thoroughly defeating Vitor Belfort at UFC 198 and Bispings’ announcement of his casting, a title shot looked unlikely for the former Wolfslair fighter. However, on May 18th 2016 it was announced that due to Weidman suffering a neck injury and ‘Jacare’ potentially needing meniscus surgery, Bisping finally got his title shot.
It’s fair to say that Michael Bisping ran through his first MMA opponents with little trouble. Overmatched or outworked, each crumbled under the pressure from the future UFC fighter. ‘The Count’ finished all 10 professional bouts remaining unbeaten heading into the 3rd season of The Ultimate Fighter.
Looking at a slightly more international approach for their reality show, UFC brought in Ross Pointon and Bisping as the first British fighters to compete on TUF in season 3. Ironically, Bisping had just defeated Pointon in their most recent fights before entering the TUF house. Bisping was a central figure of the season who dominated his fights and had a strong rivalry with team mate Matt ‘The Hammer’ Hamill. At the finale in June 2006, Bisping bested slugger Josh Haynes at Light-heavyweight and was awarded The Ultimate Fighter tagline when the UFC was still basking in its TV show’s glory. Bispings next fight against Eric Schafer at UFC 66 was part of the biggest event of the year, headlined by Chuck Liddell vs Tito Ortiz II for the Light Heavyweight title. The Schafer fight was originally due to take place at the much more modest, TUF 4 finale before visa issues for Bisping scuppered that plan. ‘The Count’ continued his winning ways by stopping Schafer in the first round.
A TUF victory and his subsequent victory on one of the most high-profile cards at the time, set Bisping up perfectly for UFC 70 (held in Manchester) where he took on journeyman Elvis Sinosic who had a professional record of 7-9 going into the fight. ‘The Count’ finished Sinosic in the 2nd round which was met with a huge response from the live crowd. It was essentially a booking gift wrapped in a bow from ZUFFA to Bisping.
Committing to its UK expansion, UFC 75, held at the o2 arena in London, was another marquee event for the UFC following the purchase of Pride FC. After relinquishing Chuck Liddell of the 205lb strap at UFC 71, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson was slated to face the last (and technically reigning) Pride 205lb champion Dan Henderson. It was the first Pride vs. UFC title unification fight which was being shown on Spike TV in the States. In the co-main event, Bisping was slated to fight former TUF rival, Matt Hamill. The event was a huge success but for Bisping, despite being awarded the decision win, it caused a reputation which would follow him for the rest of his career. The fight ended up being a difficult one for ‘The Count’ as Hamill’s aggressive pursuit of strikes, instead on the expected wrestling-centric approach, surprised an obviously frustrated Bisping. After confusing Bisping early, there were easy takedowns for Hamill in round 1. Bisping upped his game in the next two rounds but never had Matt Hamill in trouble. Each had their moments in the fight but the general feeling amongst the live crowd was that ‘The Hammer’ had taken a close decision. It was the same at home apparently. I was in the crowd at the o2 that evening on September 8th 2007 and when Bispings name was called out by Bruce Buffer the crowd initially were ecstatic but then rejected the decision. In his post-fight comments with Joe Rogan, Bisping was not complimentary towards Hamills performance and many fans, who believed Hamill should have got the nod, turned against Bisping. Many have never moved on and hold this against him to this day.
In actuality, both benefited from the decision; as Hamill remained gracious and viewed as a better fighter, Bisping became the ‘cocky Brit’ character and even more marketable. Many fans knew who Bisping was going into UFC 75, more fans wanted to see him fight and get knocked out afterwards.
In the first main event battle between two former TUF winners, Bispings next opponent was Rashad Evans at UFC 78. Evans had done his best to dispel the ‘boring’ tag he had garnered during his previous fights with a KO of Jason Lambert and a stunning head kick KO of Sean Salmon which is still featured in highlights packages today. A disappointing performance against Tito Ortiz at UFC 73 resulted in Evans’ first non-victory when it was declared a draw. The closeness of the fight between ‘The Count’ and Evans is evident as the result was a split decision victory for Evans. Despite it being his first professional loss and against one of the smallest 205lbs fighters, Bisping dropped down to 185 for his next fight. He has remained there since.
2008 was a solid year for Bisping as he easily dispatched Charles McCarthy in his Middleweight debut in April, Jason Day in June and outclassed Chris Leben at UFC 89 in Birmingham in October. For the first time in his career, talk of a potential title shot surfaced. Still only sporting one professional loss, Bisping headed into a coaching role for the UK vs USA season of The Ultimate Fighter. The cocky Brit character grew…
Bisping had talked so much throughout the season and in the pre-fight interviews, but it seemed to have little impact on his upcoming opponent, Dan Henderson. The eventual fight was a disaster for the TUF 3 winner. Held at the monster sized event UFC 100, the wins and losses couldn’t have been greater. Eluding to Bispings tendency to continuously circle towards Dan Hendersons right hand, the commentators seemed to anticipate what was about to happen. Bisping was violently knocked out cold by Henderson. A follow up shot, unnecessary by virtue of Bisping already being unconscious, was tagged as “revenge” by Joe Rogan on commentary. Dan Henderson left the UFC for Strikeforce shortly after the victory and wouldn’t compete for the company for another two years. Bisping had looked extremely lean for the fight and seemed tentative throughout. There was no sign of the fighter who had run rings around Leben or who had wiped out McCarthy and Day.
Despite the KO, Bisping returned to action just 4 months later with a come from behind victory against the dangerous, but ultimately disappointing, Denis Kang at UFC 105. It was a great win for ‘The Count’ who talked about how much pressure he was feeling after the win.
Even though he was far removed from his terrifying prime in Pride, Wanderlei Silva was a dangerous opponent for the now suddenly vulnerable Bisping. The fight remained fairly even until the very end where Silva floored Bisping and looked as though a finish was near. Silva was awarded a decision victory. The succession of fights for Bisping continued as he returned to decision the tough Dan Miller at UFC 114 before defeating Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 120 in the o2 arena. The next fight against Jorge Rivera did little to elevate Bisping after victories that flew under the radar against Miller and Akiyama. Rivera did his best to rile Bisping in the build-up but it fell rather flat. However, it seemed to effect Bisping who, upon finishing Rivera, then appeared to spit in the direction of Jorges’ cornermen. This was also after an illegal knee to Rivera’s head resulted in a point deduction. His reputation took another hit.
The pace set by Bisping, who was essentially fighting every 4 months, was impressive but he lacked a high calibre name on his record. What he appeared to be doing though, was keeping fans interested in his fights.
Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller was brought in to oppose Bisping in the hope that as coaches on season 14 of TUF, would ignite fan interest in the show. Despite their (exaggerated) feud on the show, the fight between Bisping and Miller was a disappointment. Mayhem looked slow, sluggish and overmatched. Bisping finished the fight in the third round. Millers subsequent loss to CB Dollaway saw him released from the promotion but his out of cage antics deserves an article all of its own.
Once again, talk of a potential title shot arose for the Brit. Bisping eventually fought Chael Sonnen on UFC on Fox 2 on January 28th2012 in a number one contender fight. He lost a decision and his chance at a title shot was gone once more, but in less devastating fashion compared to last time
After healing injuries, an impressive performance at UFC 152 against Brian Stann looked to ignite Bispings title shot aspirations again. But once more, it came to a crushing halt. At his TRT peak, Vitor Belfort looked like a killer and head-kicked his way to a victory over ‘The Count’. The bitter taste of the loss has never left Bisping. Jumping straight back into the cage, he had a disappointing fight against Alan Belcher where an inadvertent eye poke left Belcher unable to continue. Grabbing the much needed victory, it was followed by possibly the most difficult stint of Bisping’s career.
In the build up to his UFC Fight Night 30 fight against Mark Munoz, ‘The Count’ suffered an eye injury. Appearing on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Bisping confirmed he’d been removed from the fight. It was discovered that Bisping had astonishingly fought Belfort and Belcher with a detached retina in his right eye. The mandatory eye exam showed no evidence of the injury so Bisping had been previously cleared to fight. To correct this, ‘The Count’ underwent surgery and eventually resumed training but during media obligations for the Munoz fight, felt his vision deteriorate once more. His retina had detached again and more invasive surgery was imperative.
During the second surgery, surgeons were forced to removed scar tissue and a part of Bispings retina too. Dana White pulled him from the fight but more importantly, Bisping’s career was at risk. “I’m devastated” he told Helwani. Having looked to turn his career around after several losses, Bisping was now unable to compete.
Despite the bleak outlook, he seemingly recovered and eventually resumed training, but the physical damage to his eye was clear for all to see. Having been banned from taking part in any training during much of this period, it was a possible contributing factor for his lacklustre performance against Tim Kennedy at the TUF Nations finale in September 2014. A year away from the cage and the psychological impact of such an injury can also not be ignored. It looked like Bisping had extremely limited time left as a mixed martial artist.
Four months after his return fight against Kennedy, Michael Bisping earned a Performance Of The Night victory against the aging Cung Le in Macau, China. Suddenly back from the brink of apparent retirement, Bisping headed to Sydney Australia to take on Luke Rockhold. Looking smaller, slower and less dangerous, Bisping was easily beaten by Rockhold and lost by submission for the first time in over 30 professional fights early in the second round.
Alternating wins and losses with seemingly nowhere to go, Bisping could take solace in most of his losses. All the losses were against fighters who had previously or would go on to hold titles in Pride, Strikeforce or UFC. In addition, a number of his losses were against guys who had been busted for PEDs or embroiled in TRT issues (Henderson, Wanderlei, Sonnen & Belfort) and even in victory Bisping had fought Leben who would go on to fail a drugs test too.
Moving on from the disappointment of the Rockhold fight, conclusive wins against CB Dollaway and Thales Leites in 2015 led Bisping to UFC London. Initially slated to face Gegard Mousasi to a degree of indifference from fans and pundits, the eventual main event pitted Bisping against Anderson Silva. The fight was filled with typical but technical Bisping footwork and high volume shots against Silvas counter-attack, accuracy and Silva being Silva. A close fight, but ultimately Bisping gained the significant victory his resume had lacked.
Being in the UFC for a decade means that several wins no longer look as impressive as they once were. Which is unfortunate. It’s easy to forget the impressive way Bisping outclassed the now retired Brian Stann, in 2011. Wins against Leben, Dan Miller and Akiyama all lacked highlight reel moments whilst a majority of his other wins have come against fighters no longer with the UFC or who have retired altogether. 10 years is a long time in MMA. The victory against Silva gave Bisping that signature win that will forever be a talking point. Having fallen short many times before at the last hurdle before a title shot, he can now also move away from the undesirable feat of being the fighter who had the most UFC fights without getting a title shot.
The image of Bisping has changed dramatically from the low point of his post-fight antics against Rivera. His contribution to the company, media work and returns from tough losses and injuries have contributed to the change in perception. More so, it may be his proclamations of being a clean fighter. The Middleweight division has been plagued by endless failed PED tests, TRT drama and fighters pulling out of events. In a tweet from 8th May 2016, Bisping declared “So many steroids, clearly. And I’m here like, I’m the same as I’ve always been.” It seems to have struck a chord with fans.
Taking the fight on short notice leaves a safety net for Bisping that would not have been there had he been awarded a title shot straight after the Silva fight. Should he lose, he’s no worse off than he’s been before but has the comfort of knowing he finally received his title shot. There’s media and potential film work should he wish to retire and now he even seems to have a number of fans behind him. Times have definitely changed for the ‘cocky Brit’.
